And while we Laugh at Flying Turbine Blades, some Horrible Real Climate News...

[Junkdrawer]

Last edited Sat May 18, 2013, 11:05 AM - Edit history (1)

Peter Sinclair posted a good quick overview of the state of China's pollution problems over at the indispensable Climate Crocks of the Week:

In the past year, we’ve seen images of extreme pollution events across China, far in excess of anything that would be tolerated in developed countries.

What’s been largely uncovered by mainstream media in the west, are the protests and demonstrations, sometimes violent, that have been breaking out against new coal power stations, oil and gas development, and polluting industries across China.

...

http://climatecrocks.com/2013/05/17/chinese-fed-up-with-growth-at-any-cost/

I, of course, being the Little Mary Sunshine that I am , pointed out this:

Saddest of all?

According to Hansen in “Storms of My Grandchildren”, if Chinese particulate pollution from coal were cleaned up, immediate Global Warming would be much worse.

Long term, of course, we’ll all pay through the nose, but short term, it helps:

Doubling Down on Our Faustian Bargain

Humanity's Faustian climate bargain is well known. Humans have been pumping both greenhouse gases (mainly CO2) and aerosols (fine particles) into the atmosphere for more than a century. The CO2 accumulates steadily, staying in the climate system for millennia, with a continuously increasing warming effect. Aerosols have a cooling effect (by reducing solar heating of the ground) that depends on the rate that we pump aerosols into the air, because they fall out after about five days.

Aerosol cooling probably reduced global warming by about half over the past century, but the amount is uncertain because global aerosols and their effect on clouds are not measured accurately. Aerosols increased rapidly after World War II as fossil fuel use increased ~5 percent/year with little pollution control (Fig. 1). Aerosol growth slowed in the 1970s with pollution controls in the U.S. and Europe, but accelerated again after ~2000.

….

Unfortunately, the satellite mission designed for that purpose failed to achieve orbit, suffering precisely the same launch failure as the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO). Although a replacement OCO mission is in preparation, no replacement aerosol mission is scheduled.

….

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-james-hansen/doubling-down-on-our-faustian-bargain_b_2989535.html

If what Dr. Hansen is saying is correct, it seems to me that funding a replacement aerosol mission should be a HIGH priority. There are other ways of doing solar radiation management than asking the Chinese people to sacrifice their health, all the while adding massive amounts of carbon to the atmosphere.

We need to know if we have to go down that awful SRM road.

[KoKo]

1. Recommend...

[Junkdrawer]

7. Thanks

And a kick, as we used to say...

[Warpy]

2. Worst story about that I've seen is by a Chinese man

who scrimped and saved to get his family into a "luxury" building (barely adequate by US standards), only to have them break ground for a coal fired electric plant right next door to it shortly after they'd signed on the dotted line and moved in. Once the plant was complete and in operation, they could no longer open their windows on even the hottest day, the too-short smokestack allowed the coal smoke to billow right into the flat. Even with the windows shut, they had to clean a film of coal dust off everything daily.

Coal plants are filthy, especially the way lax regulation is allowing them to be slapped up haphazardly all over China. There is no way for anyone to get away from it.

I'm glad they're finally protesting. All they need is a charismatic leader to pop up and China will have another revolution.

[Junkdrawer]

3. The more of this stuff I read and hear....

the more this:



looks like this:

?w=680

[Junkdrawer]

4. PS: Call me a cynic, but I've been saying for a while....

that it seems the short term plan is:

Shut down some coal here, replace it with fracked natural gas.

Ship the orphaned coal to China, have them burn it dirty so that the aerosols work as a poorman's geoengineering.

[hatrack]

5. K&R - LOVE Climate Crocks!

Thanks for the post -

[Junkdrawer]

6. As I've said before, a (daily??) must read...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022851887

[Junkdrawer]

9. 3 Points:

1.) Didn't link to your threads

2.) I think you use you own absurdity to keep your nonsense in people's face (careful, that's a double edged sword)

3.) The implication is that, it's easy to laugh at the ridiculous (I'm as guilty as anyone there), harder to keep ACTUALLY informed.

Alert away

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. There are major problems with geoengineering with aerosols

You have to keep pumping them into the atmosphere - unlike CO2, which mixes thoroughly in the atmosphere and stays there until plants very gradually take it out, any aerosol will relatively quickly settle out. You'd have to keep pumping them out until you've removed the CO2 you also put out before fixing the actual CO2 problem.

Also, it doesn't fix the ocean acidification problem.

[Junkdrawer]

13. All of what you say are true. Hence the phrase "awful road"....

EVERYONE'S big fear is that SRM will be used, say, as antibiotics are abused now with livestock.

Last resort. Last resort. Last FUCKING resort.

And as it sits out there as a last resort, I want it studied every way but Sunday.

But, if I'm right, we're NOW using the dirty burning of coal as a poorman's geoengineering. How fucked up is that?

[patrice]

15. I don't know very much about this, but even I could guess you'd have to pumpt those aerosols forever

in order to avoid the backlash from not pumping them.

[HappyMe]

12. Did they ever find out what

the hell that glop was that oozed out of the street?

[Mnemosyne]

14. Pancakes. nt